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James Pearson JAMES PEARSON Department of Philosophy 441 Wilson Street William Jewell College Liberty, MO 64068 500 College Hill (412) 657-4938 (cell) Liberty, MO 64068 [email protected] (816) 415-5914 https://jamesjpearson.wordpress.com EMPLOYMENT Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, William Jewell College, 2011 - present EDUCATION University of Pittsburgh. Ph.D., Department of Philosophy, 2011 University of Oxford. B.A., Balliol College, 2003 Mathematics and Philosophy, Class I Honours DISSERTATION “Logic and Intelligibility” What is the relationship between the ability to reason and the capacity to know? This question, my dissertation argues, is the source of a deep disagreement in epistemology concerning the objectivity of knowledge. I evaluate this disagreement by examining three major accounts of logic’s relation to knowledge: Frege’s constitutivism, Quine’s pragmatic naturalism, and Davidson’s interpersonal humanism. Committee: Thomas Ricketts (director), Anil Gupta, Stephen Engstrom, Steve Awodey (Carnegie Mellon University) AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION Epistemology, History of Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind and Language AREAS OF COMPETENCE Symbolic Logic, Philosophy of Science, Ethics, Environmental Philosophy PUBLICATIONS “Asking Students What Philosophers Teach.” Teaching Philosophy, forthcoming (April 2013). Refereed. “Interpreting Disturbed Minds: Donald Davidson and The White Ribbon.” Film-Philosophy, 16, 1, (2012): 1-15. Refereed. “Review of Benjamin Schnieder and Moritz Schulz (eds.), Themes from Early Analytic Philosophy.” Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, (2012). (http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/28321/) “Distinguishing W.V. Quine and Donald Davidson.” Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 1, 1 (2011): 1-22. Refereed. - Nominated in 2012 for the APA Prize for an article by a Junior Scholar Pearson C.V. 1 TEACHING Awards and Fellowships Oxbridge Advisor Summer Research Grant, William Jewell College, 2012 I advised Karen Rice (“French Existentialism”) and Andrew Smith (“Feminism and Autonomy”). Elizabeth Baranger Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Pittsburgh, 2009 I was one of six graduate students across the College of Arts and Sciences to win this award. Although it can be won only once, I was nominated again the following year. Speaking in the Disciplines Seminar Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2009 I was the only graduate student to win this interdisciplinary fellowship. Experience William Jewell College Oxbridge Honors Tutorials (2-4 student classes for honors philosophy majors) Moral Epistemology: Naturalism and Ethics Critique of the Tradition: Philosophical Peripheries (twice) Philosophy Ethics Philosophy of Science History of Philosophy I: Plato to Kant History of Philosophy II: Kant to Davidson Freshman Seminar The Responsible Self (twice) University of Pittsburgh Full Responsibility: Theory of Knowledge: Contemporary Epistemological Debates Topics in 20th Century Philosophy: Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein Introduction to Ethics (writing intensive) Introduction to Symbolic Logic (twice) Political Philosophy: Liberty and Equality Social Philosophy: Race, Class, and Gender Social Philosophy: Introduction to Environmental Philosophy (three times) Assisted: Introduction to Symbolic Logic (twice) Introduction to Philosophical Problems (writing intensive) Political Philosophy ARTICLES IN PROGRESS “Frege’s Putative Pragmatism.” (under review at The Philosophical Quarterly) “Davidson’s Transcendental Aspirations.” PRESENTATIONS “Philosophy of Mathematics: Laws of Number as Laws of Thought,” Park University Mathematics Colloquium, Park University, November 2012. “Iris Murdoch’s Platonic Dialogues,” Diakrinomena Series, William Jewell College, February 2012. “On Wittgenstein’s ‘Lectures on Religious Belief,’” Diakrinomena Series, William Jewell College, October 2011. “On C.P. Snow’s ‘The Two Cultures,’” Fessenden Honors in Engineering Symposium, University of Pittsburgh, October 2010. “Rationality from Madness: Frege, Logic, and the case of Logical Aliens,” Madness: Probing the Boundaries Conference, University of Oxford, September 2010. Pearson C.V. 2 “Interpreting Disturbed Minds: Donald Davidson and The White Ribbon,” Film-Philosophy III Conference, Warwick University, July 2010. “Wittgenstein and the Significance of Logic for 21st Century Philosophy,” Philosophy in the 21st Century Conference, Marquette University, March 2009. “May Philosophers Legitimately Teach?” On Education Conference, Boston College, March 2009. “Wittgenstein, Normativity, and Necessity,” Wittgenstein’s Method(s), British Postgraduate Philosophy Association Masterclass, London Institute of Philosophy, September 2008. “The Third Dogma of Empiricism,” Analytic Seminar, University of Pittsburgh, April 2008. “Ought Philosophy be Prescriptive or Descriptive?” Philosophy as a Way of Life Conference, University of Liverpool, November 2004. UNIVERSITY SERVICE William Jewell College Duke Undergraduate Research Colloquium Committee Member, 2012- Film-Philosophy Colloquium Series Founder and Coordinator, 2011- University of Pittsburgh Arts and Sciences Grad Expo Chief Panel Judge, 2010 Philosophy TA/TF Graduate Student Mentor, 2008, 2010 Graduate Student Representative on Junior Faculty Philosophy Search Committee, 2007 “Sample a Class” Program Participant, 2007-2010 Philosophy Graduate Student Conference Referee, 2003-2011 Student/Faculty Philosophy Works in Progress Colloquium Coordinator, 2003-2006 PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Referee for Wiley-Blackwell, 2012 Referee for Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy, 2011 Referee for Dialectica, 2011 FELLOWSHIPS Andrew Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2007-8 Andrew Mellon Pre-doctoral Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2003-4, 2005-6 Arts and Sciences GSO Travel Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2004, 2008, 2010 Newman Scholarship, University of Oxford, 2000-2003 RESEARCH LANGUAGES: German (reading) GRADUATE COURSEWORK (* indicates audit) Philosophy of Logic, Language and Mind Advanced Logic: Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem (Anil Gupta) Topics in Philosophical Logic: Deviant Logics (Nuel Belnap) Topics in Philosophical Logic: Facing the Future (Nuel Belnap) Directed Study in Philosophy of Logic (Anil Gupta) Topics in Philosophy of Language: Non-Monotonic Logic and Inference (Robert Brandom) Philosophy of Language: Vagueness (Cian Dorr)* Rationality (Kieran Setiya)* Topics in Contemporary Philosophy: Sellars and the Philosophy of Mind (John McDowell)* Pearson C.V. 3 History of Philosophy Plato (Jessica Moss) Leibniz (Nicholas Rescher) Kant (Nicholas Rescher) Kant (Stephen Engstrom)* Hegel (Robert Brandom)* Marx (Michael Thompson)* Analytic Philosophy: Frege and Russell (Thomas Ricketts) Wittgenstein (John McDowell)* Wittgenstein (Thomas Ricketts)* Directed study in Analytic Philosophy: Carnap and Quine (Thomas Ricketts)* Epistemology and Ethics Topics in Contemporary Philosophy: Empiricism and Experience (Anil Gupta) Metaphysics and Epistemology (John McDowell) Philosophy of Science (Paul Griffiths) Ethics (Kieran Setiya) Kantian Ethics (Stephen Engstrom)* Moral Psychology (Karin Boxer)* Topics in Contemporary Philosophy: Meaning and Use (Robert Brandom)* Philosophical Perspectives on Feminism (Laura Reutsche)* REFERENCES Dr. Thomas Ricketts, Professor of Philosophy 1001 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15260 Email: [email protected] Tel: 412-624-5788 Dr. Anil Gupta, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy 1001 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15260 Email: [email protected] Tel: 412-624-5771 Dr. Stephen Engstrom, Professor of Philosophy 1001 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15260 Email: [email protected] Tel: 412-624-5775 Dr. Steven Awodey, Professor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Email: [email protected] Tel: 412-268-8947 Dr. Kieran Setiya, Professor of Philosophy 1001 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15260 Email: [email protected] Tel: 412-624-5783 Dr. Kenneth Alpern, Oxbridge Senior Tutor and Professor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy, William Jewell College, Liberty, MO 64068 Email: [email protected] Tel: 816-415-7612 Pearson C.V. 4 .
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